text: Alchemists in their pursuit of the philosopher's stone (to manufacture gold) found glassy shimmering pearls in fireplaces. Sand mixed with potash and heat coalesced into pearls of water glass. Small round panes of water glass were first industrially manufactured for used as windows in the 19th century by Van Baerle in Gernsheim and Johann Gottfried Dingler in Augsburg. Johann Nepomuk von Fuchs made the first attempts to create paints with water glass.
  Around 1850, the painters Kaulbach and Schlotthauer applied facade paints of the Pinakothek in Munich. Due to use of earth pigments, which cannot be silicated, the paintings washed out of the water glass.
  In 1878, the craftsman and researcher Adolf Wilhelm Keim patented mineral paints. Since then, they have been manufactured by the successor company Keimfarben in Diedorf near Augsburg.
  Keim depended on V. van Baerle as the source of water glass. Keim also attempted to manufacture silicate paints himself. His experiments took years to mature, but he finally achieved good results. The Silinwerk van Baerle in Gernsheim near the Rhine river and Keimfarben in Diedorf near Augsburg are well-known manufacturers.
  The impetus for Keim's intense research originated from King Ludwig I. of Bavaria. The art-minded monarch was so impressed by the colorful lime frescoes in northern Italy that he desired to experience such artwork in his own kingdom Bavaria. But the weather north of the alps - known to be significantly more harsh - destroyed the artful paintings within short time. Therefore, he issued an order to Bavarian science to develop paint with the appearance of lime but greater durability.